Non-thematic research actions targeting disruptive technologies for defence

• Scientific and technological contributions to the foundation of a future technology with disruptive applications in the area of defence.
• Enhanced innovation capacity of the European Defence industry by identifying and exploring ground-breaking concepts and approaches or by applying technologies and concepts previously not applied in the defence sector.
• Enhanced competitiveness of the European defence industry and creation of new defence markets.
• Enhanced defence research and innovation capacity across Europe by involvement of actors that can make a difference in the future such as excellent researchers, ambitious high-tech SMEs or visionary departments of big companies, research centres and universities.

The specific challenge is to lay the foundations for radically new future technologies of any kind with unexpected impact that aims to bring radical technological superiority over potential adversaries. This topic also encourages the driving role of new actors in defence research and innovation, including excellent researchers, ambitious high-tech SMEs and visionary research centres of big companies, universities or research and technology organisations.

Scope and types of activities

Scope

Proposals are sought for cutting-edge, high-risk/high-impact research leading to game-changing impact in a defence context. They must have the following essential characteristics:

• a disruptive impact in a defence context: Proposals need to clearly address how the proposed solutions would create a disruptive effect when integrated in a realistic military operation;
• radical vision: Proposals must address a clear and radical vision, enabled by a new technology concept that challenges current paradigms. In particular, research to advance on the roadmap of a well-established technological paradigm, even if high-risk, will not be funded;
• breakthrough technological target: Proposals must target novel and ambitious scientific or technological breakthroughs that can be experimentally assessed, and the suitability of the concept for new defence applications must be duly demonstrated. Basic research without a clear technological objective targeting defence applications will not be funded.

The inherently high risks of the research proposed must be mitigated by a flexible methodology to deal with the considerable science-and-technology uncertainties and for choosing alternative directions and options.

Proposals should include clear descriptions of the proposed criteria to assess work package completion.

Types of activities

The following types of activities are eligible for this topic:

Functional requirements

This call is open to any technology with a high disruption potential. Proposals should describe the targeted functionalities and the foreseen means to measure progress toward the achievements of these functionalities.